The UVic Writer's Guide

The Expository Essay

Sample topic: "How to Tame a Dragon."

The function of the expository essay is to explain, or to acquaint
your reader with a body of knowledge. By explaining a topic to
the reader, you are demonstrating your own knowledge.

For example, if you are asked to write an essay about taming dragons,
you decide what you plan to concentrate on, create a paragraph
structure, and describe the process step by step. An essay becomes
more complicated when a position has to be defended, as in a persuasive essay.